


It's Easy Being Dead

by infectedscrew



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alvin Drapper, Gen, Identity Discussions, Jason has no chill, Minor Violence, Undercover Work, neither does Tim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 06:44:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6791776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infectedscrew/pseuds/infectedscrew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s far easier to keep using a dead man’s name than to come up with a whole new one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Easy Being Dead

There was something rather liberating about coming back from the dead. For one thing there was the whole ‘not being in the ground’ part that was pretty nice. The other was that he didn’t have to sit through fake identities and equally, horrible, fake names to match.

Whether Jason Todd liked to admit it or not, coming back from the dead did grant him the ability to be himself in the fullest sense of the phrase.

Under the careful guidance of Batman he’d always had to protect his identity, keep himself secret and safe from the rest of the world. No one could ever know that Jason Todd was the second Boy Wonder, Robin, Batman’s Sidekick. He’d always hated that he had to hide in the shadows while his work went unnoticed. Sure Robin was a hero. Kids looked up to him. Criminals feared him.

But Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne’s second charity case, was just a street urchin forced into the rich white man’s world. Jason Todd would never be respect the way Robin ever would be.

Death had yanked that stupid rule right out of the book. Bruce Wayne’s second ward had died and any trace of a secret identity right along with him.

Now Jason could tell people his name, show his face when out on his midnight runs and flaunt the power he’d always possessed without worrying that it’d come back to bite him in the ass.

His name was Jason Peter Todd and he could, quite happily, inform people of such.

And why not?

According to every one else’s tiny little brains, Jason Todd was dead. It was far easier to keep using a dead man’s name than come up with a whole new one.

The fact that he didn’t have to hide was something Jason never grew tired of flaunting. Other’s in his little vigilante community had to squirrel away their secret lives. They had things to protect. Living families, friends and such that depended on the tight lipped attitude of all heroes.

At this point Jason thought it was all hogwash. Might was well live while you can, he decided. One never knew when a mad man with a crowbar was going to come in and blow things off track. Thus he took it upon himself to always remind the other’s in his little family that identity was all in a name.

In fact, right at that very moment he’d stumbled onto another bird, one who was forced to hide their name and face. Well, opportunity beckoned and Jason wasn’t the type to let it slip right on by.

“Alvin Drapper? Isn’t it illegal to have really awful names?” Jason drawled, plopping down on the rafters to look down at the pathetic excuse for a punk boy below him.

The boy in question tilted his head back. Jason hadn’t expected green eyes, but then again Bruce had taught them to be very thorough when hiding themselves. “What can I say? My parents have very poor taste.”

“From what I’ve heard, they certainly did.”

Formerly blue eyes narrowed. There was a moment where Jason knew that that disturbingly intelligent brain was trying to decide if he was teasing about the Drakes or just making commentary on poor name choice. Whatever he decided, Alvin Drapper gave him a rather easy smile.

“What are you doing here Hood?”

“Please, call me Jason.” He chuckled when tension rose in 'Alvin’s’ jawline. Not wanting to drag this out, he pushed himself off of the rafter and dropped to the floor. He was very careful to not step on any of the bodies that Tim had so carefully knocked out. “Long night for the Drappster?”

Tim snorted. He knelt down to check through the pockets of the unconscious thugs. “Short, actually. Again, what are you doing here, Hood?”

“Ah, ah. Losing your Philly voice there 'Alvin’,” Jason reminded, toeing one of the men next to him in a morbid curiosity. “You’ve gotten more brutal recently.”

“I had to. Alvin Drapper spent the last three years training in the MMA.”

“You know what the MMAs are?” Jason leaned down to snag a rather nice looking pistol from a rather willing body.

Tim shot him a long, exasperated look. He tugged a piece of paper from a jacket that seemed to be made of pockets. Getting back to his feet, he tucked the paper away. “Yes, I do. Obviously. Anyway, I’d keep out of this part of the town for awhile.”

“What? Hell no, this is my territory you’ve wandered into 'Alvin’,” Jason stated, crossing his arms and glowering. He fought for his chunk of Gotham tooth and nail, he wasn’t giving it up to a fake name in an over sized leather jacket.

“Yeah, well, I’d rather not have my identity blown because you can’t seem to grasp the concept of 'undercover’,” Tim retorted, plucking up his collar and turning to leave.

“Hey, I get it quite well. I just don’t have anything to hide anymore.” Jason slipped the new gun into his holster. “I’m not as secretive as you Bats.”

Tim paused, stilling just before the shadows. He looked back to Jason. “You’re still a Bat you know,” he said, bringing up whatever itch he’d always had with his predecessor.

Jason arched an eyebrow at him. “Formerly. All bats have to hide themselves away, I don’t do that anymore. I prefer for my enemies to know exactly who I am.”

“Aren’t you worried that it’ll get back to B?”

There was a split second when Jason’s tongue wanted to spit out that he hoped it certainly did, then he could watch the man’s whole stupid empire crumble. Instead, his lips twisted into a smirk. “Not really. People take the names of the dead all the time. Besides… Identifying Batman is the least interesting thing someone can do with their time.”

Jason didn’t stick around to see the look of shocked anger that he knew would cross his replacement’s features. Not even false scars, contacts and make up can hide the insult he knew his words would cause. But hey, the rest of his 'family’ needed to know it wasn’t all about names and social standings.

Death proved to him that there wasn’t much in a name anyway.


End file.
